Overheard

"Hey Chase, we don't have school tomorrow."

"We don't? Why?"

"Because of Mr. King, you know."

"Who's Mr. King?"

"He's this guy in the olden days who said black and white people should sit together on the bus and drink from the same drinking fountain."

"Oh. Am I black?"

"No, you're white."

"No, I'm not white; I'm really, really tan."

"Well, that's not black."

[Disappointed] "Oh."

Happy Mr. King Day to all of you out there!

To the love of my life (may he forgive me for this post)

Top ten reasons why I love you (and in no particular order):

1. You are such a hard worker. I love the drive and the ambition that are almost second nature to you. You inspire me to stop spending hours searching blogs and do something productive with my time.

2. You are so good lookin'! (If only you'd stop hitting on women in my dreams!)

3. You are an amazing father. It truly touches my soul to see how into our kids you are. These crazy little people we share a house with. The ones with the runny noses and the stinky bums. The ones who never stop talking and wake up at the crack of dawn. These ones you love with all you've got.

4. You would do anything for me. I know this because I've asked you to do some pretty crazy things lately, and you always say yes. You come through when I'm in a pinch without a second thought. That speaks volumes.

5. Your integrity. You are incapable of being untrue to yourself, and that is a rare quality, my friend.

6. Your spontaneity. I love that we have picked up and moved clear across the country (several times). I love that you will find a cool day trip, and within 30 minutes we're in the car on our way there. It balances out the OCD in me that loves to plan, plan, plan!

7. Your generosity. I think if you had the world, you'd find a way to give us the moon, too. You want nothing for yourself (again, the opposite of me!) and I love that about you.

8. Your sense of humor. You must have a good one - you married me, right?

9. Your belief in me. You have showed me that one person can make a difference. You have taught me to believe in myself, and to trust my own instincts.

10. Your support. You are the guy who says, "Hey, why not call your girlfriends and go see a movie tonight?" You are the guy who says, "You want to go away for the weekend to NY? Sure, I'll watch the kids." There are very few guys willing to say those things - and mean them. You would do ANYTHING if it brought a measure of happiness to me. You are my best friend. You make my life mean something. I love you. Just thought I should say it out loud.

P.S. If you actually read this post word-for-word, I will give you a big prize. And no, it will not be that threesome with Angelina Jolie you've been vying for...

P.S.S. I take no offense that you "skim" through my blog. I know you love me anyway! Plus, there are probably thousands of fans who read it daily...

Meet McKenzie

We have a new pet. It snuck up on us and grew over the Christmas holidays. The last day before vacation, Hannah brought home a dirt-filled sock from preschool. Its two googily eyes stared back at me and just begged to be thrown in the trash. But the promise from the preschool teachers that hair would appear on our "sock buddy" was enough for Hannah to save its life from the clutches of the trash man. She named it, faithfully watered it, and put it in windows where sunshine was plenty. Sure enough, our little McKenzie has hair. She lost one of her eyes and her nose in the growing process, but peeks out at you through her unruly mane with one good eye. Josh has even begun giving her haircuts - which is just an extra treat for me because he leaves the trimmings scattered all around her each time. It's like a little present that I get to clean up. I love those kind of presents. Please, give me more.

All in all, she's a pretty good pet. She doesn't smell, there's no cage cleaning to be done, and I don't have to give her any attention. Aside from her hair clippings, she is hassle-free. If only I could convince Chase that this is the pet for him. He turns eight this year - and has unfortunately not forgotten the hastily-made promise of three years ago in which he gets a pet on his eighth birthday. I totally expected him to forget or be into something else by the time he turned eight. He's not. And I am so not looking forward to September.

ooey-gooey-hannah-goodness

Last night I was getting ready for bed. Josh is out of town at a conference, so I was left alone to lock up for the night. I went to make sure my kids were covered with blankets, kiss them, and peek at their innocent-baby goodness that only comes out when they are sleeping. Hannah stirred a little bit, saw me, and reached her arms out for me. I bent down to give her a love, and she just squeezed with all her Hannah squishiness. The soft baby smell (that also somehow is only around when they're asleep - awake, they smell like the big people they are becoming - ew!), and the clearly-loved way she squeezed my neck - it melted my heart. She then looks up at me in all her innocence, eyelashes fluttering, and says, "Can I sleep wiff you?"

Who am I to deny her a cozy spot in my bed when she is so obviously precious? So I cuddled her up and we tiptoed past the boys' room (lest this sleepover become public knowledge) and headed into my room.

The only problem that arose was when I turned on the TV (my new habit/addiction - falling asleep to the TV. I like to set the timer, find something to barely watch, and drift off. I figure it's kind of like my own grown-up version of a nightlight). Hannah immediately props her pillow up with a little too much eagerness, clearly now wide awake, and says, "What're we watchin'?" Mind you, it is now about 11:30 p.m., and that early morning routine is looming in the back of my mind. But, being the diligent, careful parent that I am, I said, "Grey's Anatomy," (re-runs have begun on Lifetime, Dr. McDreamy every night...yum!)

She watched pretty intently for a few minutes before the commentary began. "Who is that girl?" "Is she going to have a baby?" "Why is she kissing that doctor?" "Why is that lady so angry?" "Did she have a baby at the hospital?" "Did you have your babies at the hospital?" And then the one question that parents everywhere dread and feign deafness to avoid..."WHERE DO BABIES COME FROM?"

That's it, lights out. Gotta get some sleep. Goodnight, Hannah. Nope, TV's going off. We've got to get our rest. What's that you say? Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you because I'm almost asleep. No, we'll talk about it in the morning.

Next time I'll be strong. No, I won't answer that question with all the vigor and educational parenting I can muster. Next time I'll make her stay in her own bed. That way I can greedily watch TV all by myself without having to face life's questions from a four-year-old at 11:30 p.m., when every child in the world should be sleeping - and every Mama dreaming of Dr. McDreamy.

karma

Let me just tell you a little bit about my luck. If I go on vacation somewhere that's supposed to be, I don't know, say WARM, it will be unseasonably cold. And not just cold, but record snow falls and freezing rain. If the town in which I live is anxiously awaiting spring after a long, hard winter - you can count on two feet of rain to fall in 24 hours (check the books - this happened last spring), and about another month of rain after that. I was forced to listen to my husband describe pristine blue skies and 74 degree temperatures in April while he was out here in Cali and we were still in Boston. You wanna know what April looked like last year in Boston?

That is what I woke up to on the morning of April 5th. Nice, huh? Now you see why I've become such angry, angry woman. Nobody wants to see that in April, for crying out loud.

So now that I'm in Cali, soaking up the non-snow, what does the weather look like on the east coast? Oh, how about sunny, unseasonably, unbelievably warm. Today it was 60 degrees here. Not too bad for a January day, I'd say. It was 70 freakin' degrees in Boston today. Now that I'm not there, in January, they are warmer in Boston than in California.

I wanted to be the envy of everyone who lives anywhere but here. I wanted people to think of me this winter and go, "Oh, wow, I wish I was her." Why did I want to be thought of by friends shoveling snow and wearing coats? BECAUSE I DESERVE IT! I have lived in some of the most extreme climates known to man. I deserve to have the best winter of my life. I deserve to be warm - outside. I've put in my time. It's MY turn. I've shoveled three feet of snow by myself when my husband was out of town. I have bundled up three tiny kids and fought icy roads to get where we needed to be. I have made (and cleaned up) countless sticky, messy cups of hot chocolate when the kids vainly attempted to battle wind chills and snow drifts in the back yard, only to come pouring in after ten minutes, frozen and crying. Me. I did that.

I seriously dislike most of you right about now. No hard feelings though, huh? Just remember when I didn't call you from the beach in November to brag ... oh, wait, I might have.

Guess we're even. Maybe I ought to work on my good karma...

like the flip of a switch

Here is Hannah at the park yesterday. Ain't she pretty?

Here is Hannah at the park, about ten minutes later, unable to understand why her brothers do not want to play football and house at the same time. Everyone knows football and house go together...what's wrong with these brothers? Oh, the travesty of it all...

Here is Hannah at the park. She gave up on football/house and decided to play alone. Mind you, there is about 12 minutes difference between the first picture and the last...girls!

And here are the boys, completely unaware that they have ruined their sister's life. Thank goodness she forgave them...